Pioneer southwestern archaeologist Earl Morris conducted excavations in 1938 at these two rockshelters, which constitute the type site for dwellings of the Basketmaker II Period of the Ancestral Puebloan tradition.  Basketmaker II houses were first identified at these sites.

The district consists of 86 contributing buildings which collectively reflect the late 19th- and early 20th century history and architecture of the downtown area.  Since its founding in the early 1880s, with the arrival of the railroad, Durango grew first as a mining supply and smelter center.  It soon became a focal point for agriculture and logging in southwestern Colorado. 

Extensively ornamented with terra cotta, high artistic values are embodied in this three-story, buff brick building.  Constructed in 1917, it served as the city’s only high school until 1976.

Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) Locomotive No. 315 operated for the Florence & Cripple Creek Railroad (F&CC) and the D&RGW between 1895 and 1949.  From 1895 to 1912, as F&CC No. 3, the locomotive and its sister engines played a key role in the development of Colorado’s Cripple Creek Gold Mining District.  The locomotive served on the all-important passenger and freight transportation link between mountain mines and valley smelters and settlements, delivering coal and supplies to an otherwise isolated mining district.  D&RGW No.

This multi-component site was occupied as early as circa 220 BC through AD 750.  Excavation has revealed several bell-shaped pits and slab-lined roasting pits.

Constructed in 1893, the two-story stuccoed building is the earliest known example of Mission style architecture in the state, as well as a rare example of the utilization of the style in an industrial application.  

The district shows a long occupancy, possibly beginning as early as 300BC and lasting through the Basketmaker and Pueblo periods of the Ancient Pueblo People, to proto-historic Athabascan and Ute Indian occupancy.

The narrow gauge rail line, constructed between 1880 and 1882, connected the rich silver mines of the Silverton mining district with the smelters in Durango.  The line formed an important transportation link for moving ores to processing centers and supplying the high mountain community with the necessities and comforts of life. 

Constructed in 1876-77, the Animas Cañón Toll Road was the main route between Animas City (north of Durango) and Silverton during the development of the mining camps in the surrounding region. Prior to the toll road’s construction, isolation was an impediment to the settlement of Silverton and the development of its mines, with trails and roads impassable for nearly six months of the year. Sufficient supplies and equipment were brought in with great difficulty and only the highest grade ore was transported out.

The archaeological resources of Mesa Verde and this adjoining area constitute the largest archaeological preserve in the United States.